Constance Nebbercracker
Constance Nebbercracker (AKA Monster House, or Constance the Giantess) is the titular main antagonist of the 2006 computer animated horror-comedy film, Monster House. Personality Due to the nature of her death and the misery she has gone through, Constance is trapped in an angry, hateful, loathsome, obstreperous, uncomplimentary, hot-tempered, treacherous, uncaring, merciless, bloodthirsty, destructive, and cold-hearted state: When others come near her or the house, she will immediately attack them except for her husband. She is also very disagreeable and unpleasant, so she frequently hates children. Constance is shown to be rather intelligent. She knows that she can lure children into the house by using their possessions that Nebbercracker had confiscated from them over the years, and that Halloween is an excellent time for her to attempt to devour children, as they will inevitably attempt to go trick-or-treating at the house. Furthermore, she doesn’t attempt to devour the cops that DJ, Jenny, and Chowder call to the scene until she is certain that they won’t be able to call for assistance. In addition, she remains inactive when any adults or grown-ups are present. She only cares for her husband, Horace Nebbercracker, and holds a burning hatred for kids, particularly DJ, Chowder, and Jenny, leading to a desire to kill them, but when the house is blown up, her spirit is finally put to rest and she lets go of her grudge towards people. History Not much is known about Constance's early life, aside from the fact that she once a circus freak star. Not only that, she slept in a cage by the rest of the circus members. Judging from her photos that Jenny and DJ find in her and Nebbercracker's house, it was shown that her extreme obesity was due to her love of food. Whether this was true or not (or merely speculated), her size disgusted many people, and even children. Horace Nebbercracker, who falls in love with her, eventually rescues her from the circus, and then marries her. Though Constance is happy with her later life, her happiness proves short lived after she falls to her death. On that day, the children throw rocks at her, in which she responds by asking Nebbercracker for help. Nebbercracker tells her that they were merely joking because it's Halloween. He tries to convince her that he won't let anyone hurt her. But as he says so, the children continue to provoke her, prompting her to scare them away with an axe. Unfortunately, she loses her balance and falls into the house's foundations. She presumably instantly dies upon impact due to her weight that crushed her spine, followed by cement that spilled on her and buried her corpse. Though implied that she may have survived the fall, she died after she was buried alive by cement. Despite being killed, her soul became a vengeful spirit both due to her rage and her unwillingness to leave her husband. She then possessed the now-finished house to accompany Nebbercracker for 45 years. However, she is no longer the same person that Nebbercracker once knew: Her hatred against children (which stems from her treatment back when she was still a circus member) has made her a tricky, but savage, bloodthirsty and murderous monster that tries to kill anything and anyone that approaches her except for Nebbercracker himself. Aware with what she has become, Nebbercracker is forced to pretend to be a child hater to save their lives. He even confiscates their toys that ended up into his lawn so they never return for the sake of their safety. As he does this, Constance becomes appeased as she is no longer bothered, and presumably undergoes a deep sleep. The only one who is suspicious with this grumpy and wrathful attitude is DJ, a boy who spies on the house for the next few years. Appearances Film On the day before Halloween, nearly 45 years later, when Chowder's new basketball accidentally lands on Horace Nebbercracker's lawn and DJ attempts to retrieve it, Nebbercracker ambushes and charges at him. DJ tries to calm him down, but this does not stop him from scaring him further. Nebbercracker proceeds to lift him upwards and give him an earful. However, this is a great mistake; due to his elderly age, he forgets that his body can no longer endure the boy's weight and he has a heart attack at the same time. His bones crack in the process, causing him to fall unconscious on DJ. Both boys are horrified by this, believing that Nebbercracker has died. Immediately afterwards, Constance’s spirit within the house awakens, and the house’s furnace starts burning on its own. As Nebbercracker is taken to the hospital, Constance possesses the grass on the lawn in an attempt to stop the paramedics from taking him away, and glares at the unsuspecting DJ and Chowder after the ambulance drives off. That night, she possesses the telephone in her house (off-screen) and calls DJ on the phone. When DJ gets the call, he only hears furious growls instead of a word. Thinking that it may be a trick, he tries to call the house itself, only for no one to answer him. After enduring some teasing from Zee and her boyfriend, Bones, DJ sees the shades on one of the house’s second floor windows open, and calls Chowder to meet up with him so they can investigate the house. Meanwhile, Bones (who had lost his kite when he was 10 years old) expresses his anger and sadness over his stolen kite on Nebbercracker's house by damaging the lawn. When Constance sees this, she possesses his kite within the basement, and uses it to lure Bones closer. Unaware that this is a trap, Bones approaches the kite, only to be pulled into the house by it. Later on, when DJ and Chowder go to investigate the house, Chowder, who doesn't believe strange things are occurring inside the house, crawls towards the house to try and prove DJ wrong. He discovers Bones' empty bottle, but dismisses it and tosses it aside, not noticing the possessed grass on the lawn pulling it underground. Stepping onto the porch, Chowder does an imitation of Nebbercracker and rings the doorbell, causing the house to awaken. The door suddenly opens, revealing its interior, which shifts into a mouth-like cavern. Even the house's exterior takes on a demonic form while retaining its former appearance. The horrified Chowder is then chased by the house's rug that acts like a chameleon's tongue, and barely escapes, knocking himself and DJ onto the sidewalk. The house roars at them, prompting them to flee in terror. The house remains still until morning, though DJ and Chowder continue to watch it from DJ’s room for hours even with Zee’s interference. However, they are distracted by a gorgeous red-haired girl, until they notice she's heading right for the house. The two boys immediately rush out to warn her not to go near the house, though she doesn't take them seriously. Suddenly, the house awakens, startling the girl and causing her to fall backwards into her wagon; the house then raises the sidewalk pieces to bring her closer. Luckily, she is saved by DJ and Chowder, as well as Zee coming outside (which causes Constance to go back to her dormant state). After observing the house eat a dog, DJ, Chowder, and the girl, named Jenny, realize the house only moves when its prey gets close. Deciding that the situation is starting to get serious, the three call the police. However, the police (Officer Landers and Officer Lister) don't believe them due to the house remaining inactive when adults or grown-ups are present. After consulting Reginald “Skull” Skullinski, who is an expert on the supernatural, the trio learn that the house is a rare type of monster called Domus Mactabillis, which is created when a human soul merges with a structure, and to defeat the house, they need to attack its heart. Realizing the furnace is the heart, they know that the only way to douse the furnace is by going into the house without getting eaten. They put together a dummy filled with cold medicine that Chowder takes from his father's pharmacy. However, they are caught and arrested by the police. Just as Landers and Lister are about to drive off, they hear a sound coming from the house and go up to investigate. DJ, Chowder, and Jenny watch in horror as both officers are eaten by the house. Shortly afterwards, the house eats their car as well. The kids are able to escape, but get trapped inside. They explore the house, finding that Nebbercracker used to be a member of a demolition squad in the US Army, as well as falling into the basement, where Nebbercracker keeps all the toys he confiscated from children over the years, along with the remains of Constance. The house then finds out they are inside, and attacks them, but they escape by attacking its uvula. Nebbercracker then returns home, much to DJ's relief. The trio then realizes that it was Constance's spirit that was controlling the house the whole time. DJ tells Nebbercracker that he knows about Constance. Initially confused, Nebbercracker nearly takes his anger out on DJ again upon realizing he and his friends were in his house, but softens and retells the story, explaining that he tried to give Constance a happier life, and that he never meant to be mean to the kids he chased away over the years, he was only trying to keep them away from his house so Constance wouldn’t hurt them. DJ urges Nebbercracker to put Constance out of her misery for the better. Infuriated, Constance turns two of the trees around her into arms and feet and chases DJ, Jenny, Chowder, and Nebbercracker through the neighborhood. Nebbercracker, due to his old age, is forced to stop and take a breather while DJ, Chowder, and Jenny continue running for their lives. At a construction site built on an empty lake, Nebbercracker throws a brick at Constance and stands up to her, realizing that he has failed to keep her wrath from hurting people, making Constance feel remorse for what she has done. He then attempts to blow her up with a dynamite and put her pain to an end. Outraged, Constance grabs Nebbercracker, intent on killing him as well; fortunately, DJ, Chowder, and Jenny return and fight the house using an excavator. Desperately, Nebbercracker asks DJ to help him destroy the house. DJ and Jenny are knocked into the remains of the lake as a result of Chowder's fight with the house. DJ asks Chowder to lure the house under a crane so he can throw the dynamite down the chimney leading to the heart. The scuffle causes both Chowder and Constance to fall down the hill, with the house falling apart. However, Constance reassembles the house, giving it a more threatening appearance. As DJ and Jenny climb the crane, the house devours the excavator before chasing Chowder. Jenny manages to light the dynamite and throws it to DJ, who swings on the crane and throws it down the chimney, causing the house to explode. Afterwards, the trio observe Nebbercracker sharing a final moment with Constance's ghostly form before she goes on to the afterlife. Nebbercracker mourns for the loss of his house and wife while clutching the only thing left of his house, the doorknob, and thanks DJ, Chowder, and Jenny for freeing him and Constance from so many years of misery. Video Games Relationships Horace Nebbercracker Horace Nebbercracker is the only person Constance truly cares for. This is because he brought her out of the miserable life she previously had. Despite having a happier life, Constance was again harassed by kids on Halloween, despite Nebbercracker's assurances that he would never let anyone hurt her, which led to her death. Since then, Nebbercracker pretended to dislike kids for their own good. However, she turns against him when he attempts to blow her up to put her out of her misery. Gallery Trivia * She was born in 1931 and died in 1960, meaning that she was 29 years old when she died. * In terms of backstory, Constance is similar with Onryos in mythology (includes restless souls such as Kayako Saeki), as both are wronged in their lifetime and ultimately murdered (though Constance's murder was accidental), resulting in them becoming restless souls that terrorize the living. Unlike the onryos, however, Constance's restless spirit possessed her house most of the time, though she briefly manifests as a shadowy apparition when DJ took a peek into the house. * Constance is similar to Davy Jones and Pennywise the Dancing Clown, as they are each nearly indestructible and almost impossible to stop and the only way to kill them was to destroy their own hearts. * Early drafts of the film revealed concepts for Constance's character that were not used due to be deemed too disturbing and to keep the rating: ** The interior of the house possessed by Constance is warped in that it resembles much more the interior of human organs. ** When Chowder explores the house and stumbles upon a large mirror that used to be Constance's, Constance's spirit appears in the mirror and attacks him. ** Early script also further cemented Constance's status as an antagonist who posed greater threat than either Bones or Zee, as there's a scrapped scenario where Zee also ends up being attacked by Constance. 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